The hugely respected Don Baizley was the agent to the brightest stars

Don Baizley, who started in the agent business with two gifted Swedish players named Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg in Winnipeg about 40 years ago, charging by the hour not a percentage as a lawyer, was the pro’s pro of agents. You will likely not find one agent or any NHL general manager who had a bad word to say about the straight-shooting, scrupuously honest Baizley, who sadly passed away Thursday of non-smoker’s lung cancer at 71.

In the game of hockey, he was behind the scenes very powerful, very influential, immensely well-liked by players, agents, general managers. Baizley never blew his own horn, but there was not a better man in our game.

“Universally respected in our business…whether you were competing with him or not. It wasn’t like other guys where I might want to run them over with my car. I’d actually swerve for Don,” laughed long-time agent Steve Bartlett, who represented Doug Weight among others. “For me, he was everything this business should be. He had great integrity.”

When Baizley talked, agents listened, GM’s listened. He didn’t try to snow general managers over how much his clients were worth. He was direct, to the point, no BS. He got deals done with little acrimony.

“He always did the right thing for not just his clients but for t he other side of the table. No one had better character,” said former Rangers’ GM Neil Smith in a tweet.

“A sad day for the hockey world…Don Baizley was a very bright, talented man,” said ex GM Brian Burke.

When the agents got together, Baizley was the voice of reason. “Maybe we’d be having contentious agent meetings, or meeting over lockouts, and everybody would be talking but when Don spoke, everybody piped down. They’d be saying’ yeah, that makes sense.’ He was the level-headed, calm, unemotional, legal scholar who cut to t he chase on both sides of an issue,” said Bartlett, who said his best memory of Baizley was him talking of Nilsson and Hedberg, who played with Bobby Hull in Winnipeg.

“We were in Toronto and the two of us went out for a school of beers one night for about three hours, and Don talked about how he got into the agent business with Hedberg (on the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee now) and Nilsson and the WHA and the NHL. A great night of stories,” said Bartlett.

“I remember Don telling me he was trying to get an idea on salaries for Hedberg and Nilsson and he called Pierre Lacroix (former agent, who became the Avs’ GM) to ask what his client Mike Bossy was making.”Pierre said ‘I’d love to tell you but I had to sign a confidentially agreement with (Islanders’ GM) Bill Torrey so we can’t talk about the contract. My how times have changed,”’ said Bartlett.

Baizley had the who’s who of clients. Joe Sakic, Jari Kurri, Teemu Selanne, Peter Forsberg, Paul Kariya, Theo Fleury, Saku Koivu, Kent Nilsson. He only had a client base of about 25, but he didn’t need any more. Few of his clients ever left him for another agent. When Kariya was asked why he hired Baizley as his agent when he was a youngster leaving U of Maine for the NHL and being pursued by an army of guys who wanted to do his bidding, Kariya said because “every agent said if you don’t want me, then you should get Don Baizley. So I did.”

As my good friend, Hockey Hall of Famer writer Eric Duhatschek said Thursday, he wouldn’t be surprised if Sakic, who now heads up the Colorado Avalanche hockey ops department, asks for a moment of silence at the NHL draft in Newark Sunday, before he announces the Avs first pick, likely Nathan MacKinnon.

Baizley orchestrated the move of the magical forwards Nilsson and Hedberg from the World Hockey Association Winnipeg Jets to the New York Rangers in 1978, getting over $500,00 a year for the players for two years–huge money back then. Out of the blue he had one of the first offer sheets for Sakic when Joe was starring with the Avs, getting the Rangers to give him $21 million over three years in 1997, which the Avs (Lacroix as GM) had to match. He worked out a deal in 2003 whereby Kariya and Selanne both signed in Colorado as free-agents n the hopes of winning a Cup together with Kariya taking $1.2 million after a staggering $10 million salary in Anaheim the year before and Selanne taking $5.8 million. He was beside Forsberg throughout his injury travails, the confidant of Saku Koivu when struck by cancer, the guy you called every summer to find out if Selanne still wanted to play.

He always got good value for his players but never left general managers cursing him. “He wasn’t out there trying to get every bloody dollar he could,” said Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray awhile back.

:He was my American dad,” said a heart-broken Selanne.

“An amazing man,” said Kurri, who had Baizley as his agent when the great Oiler was only 20 years old and coming to the NHL from Finland, a wide-eyed, nervous kid who relied heavily on Baizley’s counsel.

When they celebrate Baizley’s remarkable life, wherever the funeral is held, it will be standing-room only with hockey people–GMs, agents and hockey’s greats and the media–all wanting to pay their respects to one of the true gentlemen.

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